Adjustable hems



Oct. 21, 1958 R. w. P-:Rslco ET AL 2856509 ADJUSTABLE HEMS Filed April 3. 1956 INVENTORS W Perszlco Raok I Z P w' ATTORNEY Unite States Patent O ADJUSTABLE HEMS Ralph W. Persico, Philadelphia, Pa., and Michael P. Carlucci, Natich, Mass., assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Application April 3, 1956, Serial No. 575,917

1 Ciaiin. (Cl. 2-269) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to wearing apparel generally and has for its primary object to provide a novel hem construction for the free ends of sleeves, trouser legs and the like, whereby these elements may be quickly lengthened from time to time, as desired, without the need of a sewing machine, hand stitching or other operation requiring any degree of skill.

More particularly it is an object of the invention to provide an over-sized hem on a garment combined with a plurality of parallel lines of stitching Whereby the particular part of the garment may be lengthened one or more incrernents by merely ripping out one or more lines of stitching and then manipulating the fabric to lower the fold line of the hem as provided for by the ripped out line or lines of stitching.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a pair of trousers in which the novel hem is incorporated at the bottom of `the leg portions;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the lower portion of a trouser leg, parts being broken away to more clearly show the construction of the hem; and,

Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 are sectional views showing various adjustments of the hem for lengthening the trousers.

Referring to the drawing more specifically and by reference numerals, the numeral 10 indicates a pair of conventional trousers in which the novel hem is incorporated at the bottom as indicated by numeral 11. It is to be understood, however, that the hem of the present invention may be incorpo'rated in the free ends of sleeves, the bottom of skirts, etc., or as a matter of fact in any part of a garment which may be conveniently lengthened from time to time as desred.

In the present illustration the outer fabric of the trousers is indicated by the numeral 12, and an inturned bottom portion of the fabric 12 is indicated by the numeral 13. This inwardly and upwardly turned portion 13 is of sufficient length to produce an oversized hem as clearly indicated in Figure 2.

In lieu of securing the free edge of the upturned portion 13 to the body of the garment, as is customary, a piece of lightweight and preferably thin material, such as lining material 14, is employed for that purpose. This lightweight material 14 is doubled upon itself to provide two upwardly extending sections 15 and 16. The inner section 15 is somewhat longer than the outer section 16 and extends above the upper end of the section 16 so that it may be secured to the inner face of the body of the garment as indicated by the line of stitching 17, but before being sttched this section 17 is preferably ICC 2 doubled upon itself at its upper end and stitched to provide a thickened portion 18. The line of stitching 17 which secures the upper edge 18 of the inner section 15 to the body of the garment, is preferably of a type of chain stitching or the like which presents only a very minor portion of thread on the exterior of the garment.

The outer section 16 of the thin and lightweight material 1-1 is secured to the inwardly and upwardly turned portion 13 of the outer fabric 12 at a plurality of Vertically spaced points by parallel lines of stitching 19, 2d, 21 and 22, and the garment is of course pressed to provide a neat fold 23 at the bottom of each trouser leg. The lower circumferential edge of the folded Sections 15-16 is spaced inwardly of and slightly above the lower edge of the hem 23 thereby serving to space the hem from the shoe and reduce wear on the hem to a minimum.

Should it be desired to lengthen the trousers, an additional increment may be added to each leg by merely ripping out the lowermost lines of stitching 19 and thereafter manipulating the outer material as indicated in Figure 4, so as to drop the fold 23 of the bottom of the tronsers a distance corresponding to the length of the lightweight material between the lines of stitching 19 and Z'ii. lt will be course be understood that the trouser legs may be further lengthened as indicated in Figures 5 and 6 by removing the lines of stitching 20 and 21 respectively and again manipulating the outer material as previously indicated.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings it will be clearly apparent to those skilled in the art that We have devised a novel constrnction of oversized hem for trousers and the like which presents a neat appearance, which is not excessively bulky by reason of the use of a thin lightweight material, such as lining material, having only a single fold, and that several adjustments may be made without the use of tools or skilled labor, the only requirement being a knife or the like for ripping out one or more lines of stitching 19, 2th or 21, as may be necessary.

In accordance with the patent statutes we have described what we now consider to be the preferred form of the invention, but inasmuch as certain minor changes may be made in structural details without departing from the spirit of the invention, it is intended that such changes be included within the scope of the appended claim.

We claim:

in a trouser leg an adjustable hem comprising an infolded portion of the outer fabric of sufi'lcient length to provide an oversized circumferential hem, a length of relatively thin fabric folded upwardly upon itself to provide relatively long and short circumferential Sections, a circumferential line of stitching uniting the upper edge of the relatively long section to the inner face of the outer fabric slightly above the upper edge of the hem, the fold of the relatively thin fabric being positioned slightly above the lower edge of the hem, and a series of verticallyspaced circumferential lines of stitching securing the relatively short section solely to the infolded portion of the outer fabric, said series extending from the fold adjacent the bottom of the hem to a point adjacent the top thereof, whereby the oversized hem is maintained in conventional shape until such time as the several circumferential lines of stitching are ripped out.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,643,159 Greenberg Sept. 20, 1927 1`,921,467 Hymes Aug. 8, 1933 2,308,411 Wolfson Jan. 12, 1943 2,589,367 Goldstein Mar. 18, 1952 

